(Warstory) An Invitation to a Couch Party

Hi everyone! Today, I've got a gift for you, and it's a shiny new warstory with double commentary coming from all the awesome guys that participated to the Counter that Pokemon project!

As some of you probably already know, this project aims to create two teams that, while not necessarily good on the ladder, are specifically designed to counter each other to the best of their possibilities. In the end, we choose the two major contributors to the project and ask them to battle with the two teams, to see "who did the best job" at countering the other one. This time, users The Great Mighty Doom and Melee Mewtwo will face each other in the final battle to see who will win in the end. This is the first match of a Best of Three, and while probably not the "best played", it was surely the most entertaining! Without further ado, let's go straight into it!

Well, the team preview is of no help really, as I already know Melee Mewtwo's team, lol. Anyway, Infernape is clearly going to be the key to this match because it OHKOs most of the opposing team and it's outsped by only Keldeo. Rotom-W will also be very important in this battle, as it completes the Volt-Turn core with Infernape, it's my best check to Keldeo, and it helps with Skarmory, Heatran etc. Skarmory walls everything else, if I try and use any of them Skarmory can come in and start laying down hazards, which will be crucial to Melee Mewtwo's success. My best plan of action is to Volt-Turn as much as possible, so I can keep bringing in Infernape to smash the opposing team and try my best to prevent Skarmory setting up hazards. And if I kill Keldeo (which he won't let happen) and weaken Celebi to Flamethrower range then it's an Infernape sweep. I decide to lead with Infernape rather than Rotom-W because it has a favourable matchup with everything other than Keldeo (unlike Rotom-W, who only has a favourable matchup with half the team.) Keldeo is a pretty likely lead admittedly, but Hydreigon is too, and if I lead with Rotom-W anticipating Keldeo, but he sends out Hydreigon then all Melee Mewtwo has to do is hit Draco Meteor and something on my team dies.

Since this was a CTP project I already knew what his team was. Infernape was the last pick and a massive threat to this team as he could cleanly sweep through my team. The best I could do was threaten a revenge kill with ScarfKeldeo but I had to be careful with him as Close Combat + Mach Punch is a KO on my pony. I ran up all the calcs before hand and Scizor looks my best chance at winning as a +2 Bullet Punch KOs a 50% as well as the rest of the team with the exception of Landorus. If I plan on getting this sweep off I'm going to need the help of Skarmory's entry hazards so my plan is to find a way to get him in early and then stall out Team 2 long enough to sweep. In the mean time, Infernape is an immediate threat and being stuck with anything except Keldeo against him will be bad for me. Keldeo also has the benefit of being fairly dangerous itself so I decide the pony is my best bet.

Battle between Great Mighty Doom and Melee Mewtwo started!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Infernape!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Keldeo!

(100%) vs (100%)

This is the worst matchup possible for Infernape, for obvious reasons. Risking my key to victory first turn would be a brain dead play, so I have to switch. So I decided to just make the safe play and switch straight to Rotom-W, everything else lets Skarm setup, so although the Celebi switch is incredibly obvious, going Rotom-W is still the best play.

So as expected, The Great Mighty Doom (who I will now refer as "Doom" or "TGMD") leads with Infernape. This match-up is favorable for me and I doubt TGMD will risk his key player up front. I decide to switch to Celebi on the expected retreat to Rotom-Wash.

Turn 1
Melee Mewtwo called Keldeo back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Celebi!
Great Mighty Doom called Infernape back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Rotom-Wash!

(100%) vs (100%)

He does indeed bring out Celebi on my Rotom-W. I know for a fact that this Celebi has Baton Pass / Giga Drain / Recover / Thunder Wave. If I go to Infernape, I risk the paralysis, which would completely ruin Infernape, and the possible Baton Pass right back to Keldeo, which will likely put me right back in the same position I am now. If I switch to anything else, I risk the Baton Pass right out to Skarm, which means he'll setup Stealth Rock, which will greatly hinder Rotom-W and especially Infernape. If I stay in and Volt Switch then I risk a weakened / paralyzed Rotom-W, but it'll give me momentum, which means a free Infernape switch-in. Overall, Volt Switching with Rotom-W is not only the safest play, but it puts me in the most favourable position, too.

Good, I've still got the upper hand. I'm expecting another retreat so I'm going to use Baton Pass to scout the switch. If Infernape comes back I'll go to Keldeo but hopefully something else will be brought in so that I can get Skarm in safely.

Turn 2
The foe's Celebi used Baton Pass!
Melee Mewtwo called Celebi back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Heatran!
Rotom-Wash used Volt Switch!
The foe's Heatran lost 34% of its health!
Great Mighty Doom called Rotom-Wash back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Infernape!
The foe's Heatran restored HP using its Leftovers!

(100%) vs (72%)

Yuss! I predict the Baton Pass correctly, and out comes Heatran on my Volt Switch. It's time for Infernape to do it's thing. I'll just go for the safe Close Combat for now.

Darn, he wasn't afraid of the Giga Drain. I decide to pass to Heatran as he is the only one who can tank a Volt Switch since I'm saving Hydreigon for something else. Rotom Volt-Switches as expected and in comes the stupid monkey. I expect him to go for the kill as he doesn't need to be playing risky at this point in the game. Please don't die Celebi.

Turn 3
Melee Mewtwo called Heatran back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Celebi!
Infernape used Close Combat!
It's not very effective... The foe's Celebi lost 23% of its health!
Infernape's Defense fell!
Infernape's Special Defense fell!
The foe's Celebi restored HP using its Leftovers!

(100%, -1 Def, -1 SpD) vs (83%)

Out comes Celebi, and I'm just going to U-Turn, it's safe, and there's no punishment for constant switching yet because he doesn't have Stealth Rock up.

Remember how I said I had done calcs beforehand and was saving Hydreigon for something? Well, now is the time to bring him in. TGMD still has no reason to do anything other than the predictable move right now and that move is U-Turn. Hydreigon can survive that U-Turn which'll let me break the Volt-Turn chain as Rotom would be a silly choice to bring in on Hydreigon. Every other member of Doom's team is hazards fodder for Skarmory so I can safely throw Hydreigon while clicking Draco Meteor to either get Skarm in at full health or take a kill on a retreat. (Which would most likely be Ape or Rotom as anything else would be a poor response to a predicted switch to Skarmory)

Turn 4
Melee Mewtwo called Celebi back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Hydreigon!
Infernape used U-turn!
A critical hit! It's super effective! The foe's Hydreigon lost 100% of its health!The foe's Hydreigon fainted!
Great Mighty Doom called Infernape back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Rotom-Wash!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Celebi!

(100%) vs (83%)

Melee Mewtwo switches to Hydreigon and I realize what he was trying to do, he tried to break my Volt-Turn core by creating a situation where I couldn't bring in Infernape because it's in the process of switching out, and I couldn't bring in Rotom-W because Hydreigon obliterates it. If I kill Hydreigon with anything other than Rotom-W or Infernape, then Melee Mewtwo can bring in Skarmory and setup rocks. This was a very good play, and I'm suprised I didn't see it coming, but then again, even if I did see it it coming, it would just become a 50/50 predict situation... Unfortunately for him, I crit Hydreigon, and that allows me to bring in Rotom-W, completely ruining his plan, yeah... sorry about that... Out comes Celebi and I'm in the same situation as before. And I'm in the same 33/33/33 predict scenario as I was before. So far I've done the most obvious play every single turn, so I decide it's time to change it up a little and switch to Heracross predicting the Giga Drain / Thunder Wave.

Crap, that crit ruined my plan. Oh well, it's not like I didn't know hax existed when I decided to play Pokemon. TGMD brings out Rotom which makes Celebi the best replacement. Hopefully, Doom will retreat this time.

Turn 5
Great Mighty Doom called Rotom-Wash back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Heracross!
The foe's Celebi used Baton Pass!
Melee Mewtwo called Celebi back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Skarmory!

(100%) vs (100%)

... That doesn't work out too well, and Melee Mewtwo can now setup those dreaded Stealth Rocks. This really was a bit of a missplay tbh, not being super obvious is great and all, but it was so crucial that I prevented Skarm setting up Stealth Rocks, and paralyzed / injured Rotom-W doesn't matter as much as rocks up, just like before, so Volt Switch was the better play. Now it's best to just bring out Infernape.

That hax didn't matter anymore as I got what I was hoping for, anyways. Time to get some Stealth Rocks up.

Turn 6
Great Mighty Doom called Heracross back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Infernape!
The foe's Skarmory used Stealth Rock!
Pointed stones float in the air around your team!

(100%) vs (100%)

Out comes Infernape as Skarmory gets up those painful Stealth Rocks. I can either go for Close Combat, Flamethower, or U-Turn. This really is just a toss up situation; if he predicts wrong then something dies next turn. I decide to just Flamethrower, not wanting to risk Skarm laying down more Spikes. That is an incredibly huge risk, but so is risking anything else dying (least important member of his team is probably Heatran, but then it doesn't matter if I Flamethrower rather than Close Combat next turn, I can always Close Combat the turn after.)

Yeah, there was no reason for Ape to be afraid of Skarm as it doesn't have any damaging attacks. (Whirlwind is useless without hazards) I want to Skarmory to wall that Mamoswine and hopefully get Spikes up later so I decided to retreat. Doom has been playing it safe so far and I'm going to have to take risks to win this. I'm feeling a Flamethrower so let's go Keldeo.

Turn 7
Melee Mewtwo called Skarmory back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Keldeo!
Infernape used Flamethrower!
It's not very effective... The foe's Keldeo lost 20% of its health!

(100%) vs (80%)

I get unlucky, Melee Mewtwo takes a massive risk and fortunately for him I don't Close Combat. Now, I predict the Surf, but rather than making the intelligent play by going out to Rotom-W, I try to sac Landorus instead to preserve some of Rotom-W's HP. This wasn't worth it because Celebi was a very likely play too, and Rotom-W would have been better against Celebi, because I can Volt Switch, Landorus can’t stay in, so it has to hard switch, etc.

Cool, that worked. Doom will lose the game if he risks Infernape so I'm expecting another retreat to Rotom. Alright, Celebi do your stuff.

Turn 8
Melee Mewtwo called Keldeo back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Celebi!
Great Mighty Doom called Infernape back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Landorus!
Pointed stones dug into Landorus!
The foe's Celebi restored HP using its Leftovers!

(88%) vs (89%)

Yup, I be an idiot and let Celebi come out on Landorus. I've had a knack for predicting the Baton Pass so far, so I'm just gonna go straight to Rotom-W.

Wait, wut? I guess he was assuming I would use Secret Sword to wear down Rotom faster. I wish I had done so now as that extra damage would have been enough to make sure Lando wasn't healthy enough to tank a +2 Bullet Punch. Doom mustn't have known about this calc which is why he was willing to send out Landorus. Oh well, Lando only needs to be damaged by SR twice for Scizor to have a 50% chance at KOing. Plus, Celebi was picked to hard counter Lando so this is still good news for me. I'm going to Baton Pass as it'll let me see what decision TGMD decides to make.

Turn 9
Great Mighty Doom called Landorus back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Rotom-Wash!
Pointed stones dug into Rotom-Wash!
The foe's Celebi used Baton Pass!
Melee Mewtwo called Celebi back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Heatran!
The foe's Heatran restored HP using its Leftovers!
Rotom-Wash restored HP using its Leftovers!

(94%) vs (78%)

Perfect! I bring out my Rotom-W, and Melee Mewtwo is forced to swap out his Rotom-W counter for something with a bad matchup against Rotom-W. It’s pretty clear that Melee Mewtwo is bating the Hydro Pump, so he can just bring Celebi right back in, so I decide to predict that and go for the Volt Switch.

Ah, looks like he predicted my Baton Pass so now I can't go to Skarmory. I'm stuck with switching to Heatran, again. I don't feel like playing risky with Heatran and if Doom decides to Hydro Pump I have another Baton Pass chance so I'm sending out Celebi. Rotom uses Volt Switch to keep that momentum and Infernape is back to be a jerk.

Turn 10
Melee Mewtwo called Heatran back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Celebi!
Rotom-Wash used Volt Switch!
It's not very effective... The foe's Celebi lost 9% of its health!
Great Mighty Doom called Rotom-Wash back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Infernape!
Pointed stones dug into Infernape!
The foe's Celebi restored HP using its Leftovers!

So far, I'm not doing too great, I stupidly let Skarmory set up Stealth Rock, and I haven't really taken out any key Pokemon. I've really just gotta predict well, bring in nape, and then predict well some more.

So far the first ten turns were pretty successful for me. I've got SR up early and the hazard has already done its work in putting Landorus in sweeping range (although still risky) while Ape is starting to feel its sting. My team is fairly healthy with the exception of the fainted Hydreigon who was death fodder, anyways. However, I'm back in a unfavorable match-up with Celebi in against Infernape after Rotom's Volt Switch scouted my retreat. Infernape is still pretty healthy so I need to try to keep on predicting as best I can so that my Stealth Rock will do its job.

(88%) vs (86%)

Out comes the predicted Celebi on my Volt Switch, I’m now free to bring out Infernape. This is simply a 50/50 prediction, I either U-Turn predicting him to stay in, or I Close Combat predicting the Heatran. I just go for the U-Turn and hope for the best.

The safe play would be for Infernape to U-Turn. Heatran can easily shrug off the hit making him a solid switch-in. Even if Doom predicts the move, Heatran is the least important member so I would rather be gambling with him right now.

Turn 11
Melee Mewtwo called Celebi back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Heatran!
Infernape used U-turn!
It's not very effective... The foe's Heatran lost 6% of its health!
Great Mighty Doom called Infernape back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Rotom-Wash!
Pointed stones dug into Rotom-Wash!
The foe's Heatran restored HP using its Leftovers!
Rotom-Wash restored HP using its Leftovers!

(87%) vs (78%)

Grrrrrr. Heatran switches in on my U-Turn. I pretty much just lost a coinflip, yeah… that’s no fun :( I’m placed in another coin flip prediction situation; I can Volt Switch, predicting Celebi, or Hydro Pump, predicting Heatran to stay in. I just go for the Hydro Pump.

Infernape U-Turns which is good but now Rotom is back in. I'm going to make the same move as last time as Kyurem-B still worries me so I don't want to play too riskily.

Turn 12
Melee Mewtwo called Heatran back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Celebi!
Rotom-Wash used Hydro Pump!
It's not very effective... The foe's Celebi lost 17% of its health!
The foe's Celebi restored HP using its Leftovers!
Rotom-Wash restored HP using its Leftovers!

(93%) vs (76%)

Oooook, can I lose more coin flip predicts? Yes x 100000. I decide it’s time I take a risk and get myself out of this constant loop of stupid 50/50 predict situations. I’m going to Volt Switch to Mamoswine, baiting Skarmory, I’ll then proceed to bring Infernape right back out. Melee Mewtwo could predict this and Thunder Wave on the Infernape switch, rather than going out to Skarm. So sure, it’s risky, but so is brining in Infernape again, and again, taking a risk with the 50/50 predictions each time, until it eventually dies to hazards.

Yay, Rotom decided to Hydro Pump so Celebi so I got the momentum again. I'm thinking TGMD might expect me to actually Giga Drain this time and will thus bring in Infernape. I'm not actually sure if this is what I had going through my head at the time or if I was just tired cause it was getting late but I decided to Thunder Wave.

Turn 13
The foe's Celebi used Thunder Wave!
Rotom-Wash is paralyzed! It may be unable to move!
Rotom-Wash used Volt Switch!
It's not very effective... The foe's Celebi lost 9% of its health!
Great Mighty Doom called Rotom-Wash back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Mamoswine!
Pointed stones dug into Mamoswine!
The foe's Celebi restored HP using its Leftovers!

(88%) vs (73%)

Rotom-W gets paralyzed, which is unfortunate, but luckily, it’s not a full para and I successfully Volt Switch to Mamoswine. Now it’s time for the final part of the plan, bringing out Infernape on the predicted Skarmory, if he predicts it and Thunder Wave’s, then, well, errr… yeah, that would be bad… Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.

Well, that wasn't very useful. Oh well, maybe I can get some hax to break the Volt Switch chain again. Doom decides to break the chain himself, oddly enough, by bringing in Mamoswine. Maybe he wants to get SR up but I'm more than happy to try and get Skarmory in for some Spikes this time so I dry switch to him.

Turn 14
Great Mighty Doom called Mamoswine back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Infernape!
Pointed stones dug into Infernape!
Melee Mewtwo called Celebi back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Skarmory!

(75%) vs (100%)

Boom, it works out perfectly; I’m now in a great position. I’m going to Close Combat, because Melee Mewtwo knows that Celebi can’t take 2 Flamethowers, he doesn’t really want to stay in fearing the KO by Flamethower, but even if he does, Flamethower wouldn’t KO due to sturdy anyway, there’s no way Scizor is coming in for obvious reasons, so that just leaves Heatran and Keldeo. If I Flamethrower, he could go to Heatran, get Flash Fire boost from Flamethower, bait the Close Combat, and then he could go out to Celebi on the predicted Close Combat. Keldeo could come in on the predicted Flamethrower and then easily force me out. Those are two risky, but plausible plays (anything he does would be super risky at this point anyway.) Or he could just sac Heatran, as it’s the least important in his team.

Derp, I should have seen all those red flags from that weird play. I immediately started regretting that decision and wishing I decided to Baton Pass. Even if Mamoswine went for the kill, that would have given me an opportunity to set up Spikes with Skarmory as Infernape would switch in. This would set things up perfectly so that the next time I got a chance to safely use Swords Dance with Scizor (either on Rotom or Heracross) I could cleanly sweep. Then again, Landorus would still be a coin flip so maybe playing safe with Celebi was the better move. Either way, I got to deal with this silly primate right now. I'm not sure if TGMD will try to roast me with Flamethrower or predict a switch and Close Combat. I'm leaning towards the later which would make Celebi my only possible switch-in. I didn't want to lost Skarm just yet as Mamoswine was still around and Celebi could tank the hit, anyways, so in comes my lovely red (fine, pink) onion fairy.

Turn 15
Melee Mewtwo called Skarmory back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Celebi!
Infernape used Close Combat!
It's not very effective... The foe's Celebi lost 25% of its health!
Infernape's Defense fell!
Infernape's Special Defense fell!
The foe's Celebi restored HP using its Leftovers!

(75%, -1 Def, -1 SpD) vs (54%)

Damn, Celebi comes in on Close Combat. Well, now that Rotom-W is paralyzed, I suppose it’s not as big of a threat to his team, so risking Celebi was worth it. Either way, I have a very low chance of KOing Celebi from here with Flamethower, so I’m just going to U-Turn.

Infernape using Close Combat meant that Celebi would remain healthy enough to still be annoying for Rotom. I'm expecting the U-Turn but I decided to go to Skarmory this time, just in case Infernape decided to use Close Combat on the Heatran that has been coming into his U-Turns before.

Turn 16
Melee Mewtwo called Celebi back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Skarmory!
Infernape used U-turn!
It's not very effective... The foe's Skarmory lost 3% of its health!
Great Mighty Doom called Infernape back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Rotom-Wash!
Pointed stones dug into Rotom-Wash!
Rotom-Wash restored HP using its Leftovers!

(87%, PAR) vs (97%)

Errr Melee Mewtwo switches in Skarm on the U-Turn, very risky play indeed. Rotom-W is the only thing other than Infernape that can take on Skarmory, so I’m obviously going to bring it in, then proceed to Volt Switch.

So Skarmory laughs at the weak U-Turn but that Volt-Turn chain remains as annoying as ever. There's no reason for Doom to do anything other than Volt Switch so Celebi, I choose you.

Turn 17
Melee Mewtwo called Skarmory back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Celebi!
Rotom-Wash used Volt Switch!
It's not very effective... The foe's Celebi lost 10% of its health!
Great Mighty Doom called Rotom-Wash back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Infernape!
Pointed stones dug into Infernape!
The foe's Celebi restored HP using its Leftovers!

(63%) vs (50%)

Out comes Celebi, and we’re right back into a very similar situation as a few turns ago, only this time, Flamethrower has a much higher chance of KOing, so I go for it.

Bleh, I'm kinda glad Volt-Turn is one of the few team types that are unviable in Ubers. This may not be full Volt-Turn but it is getting annoying. The bright side is my Stealth Rock is probably getting really annoying for him as well. Speaking of which, Infernape is only one SR hit away from 50%. I decided to keep Celebi in as a U-Turn would probably bring out Wash which Scizor could set up on while a Close Combat (for Heatran) would let me hit Ape with T-Wave and Flamethrower had about a 38.5% chance to not KO.

Awesome sauce! I don’t get an unlucky roll, and down goes Celebi. Out comes Keldeo, but Rotom-W definitely won’t like taking 2 Secret Swords, so it’s best to just try and sac Kyurem-B, so I can bring in Rotom-W safely.

Keldeo is the obvious choice to bring in after the Flamethrower KO. Secret Sword has a shot at 2HKOing Wash so I'm going to go with that as Scizor can pick off Ape even if he is mad enough to stay in.

Turn 19
Great Mighty Doom called Infernape back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Kyurem-B (Kyurem-Black)!
Pointed stones dug into Kyurem-B!
Kyurem-B is radiating a bursting aura!
The foe's Keldeo used Secret Sword!
It's super effective! Kyurem-B lost 60% of its health!
Kyurem-B restored HP using its Leftovers!

(21%) vs (80%)

Secret Sword doesn’t quite KO Kyruem-B, but that’s fine, I can just Dragon Tail, so just in case he brings out Skarm, it’ll just get forced right back out.

Oh my, Kyurem is so bulky. That was a smart move as he was just death fodder and coming in on a Surf would have meant a free attack. Obviously, he is going to DTail in the case that I retreat so I have to stay in and kill it.

Turn 20
The foe's Keldeo used Secret Sword!
It's super effective! Kyurem-B lost 21% of its health!
Kyurem-B fainted!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Rotom-Wash!
Pointed stones dug into Rotom-Wash!

Not bad, not bad at all. With Celebi gone, Melee Mewtwo's got nothing to force Infernape out by making it U-Turn, and Rotom-W can just destroy everything. My best win path is really just to Volt-Turn to my heart's content, prevent Scizor from setting up, and predict well, I can't bring out Infernape too much though, I really need it for that Scizor.

10 turns later and my plan to stall for hazards damage worked. Landorus and Infernape are now in sweeping range so all that is left for me to do is get Scizor in to set up SD. Sadly, he can only set up in front of two members, Rotom and Heracross. The former is spending his time Volt-Switching everywhere while the later has no reason to come out. I need to find that setup opportunity and hopefully get Landorus out one more time so I don't have to coin flip when I go to Bullet Punch him.

(75%, PAR) vs (80%)

Kyurem-B gets KOed, and now I can bring in Rotom-W safely and just Volt Switch.

The only thing that can switch into a Volt Switch is Heatran right now. I'll also be bring Scizor in on Rotom to Swords Dance if TGMD decides to Hydro Pump the obvious Heatran.

Turn 21
Melee Mewtwo called Keldeo back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Heatran!
Rotom-Wash used Volt Switch!
The foe's Heatran lost 30% of its health!
Great Mighty Doom called Rotom-Wash back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Infernape!
Pointed stones dug into Infernape!
The foe's Heatran restored HP using its Leftovers!

(50%) vs (55%)

Heatran switches in on the Volt Switch as I bring in Infernape, there’s literally no reason not to Close Combat, as everything that could come in on Close Combat is KOed by a different move afterwards.

Heatran does his job as a death fodder by blindly sponging Rotom's attack. Sadly, he didn't Hydro Pump so no setting up just yet. Well, I'll just go ahead and try to catch an over-predict with Roar.

Heatran dies, out comes Keldeo, and now I’m gonna sac Mamowine to bring in Rotom-W safely. I really hope he doesn’t predict this and go to Skarm.

Time for Keldeo to try to 2HKO Rotom again.

Turn 23
Great Mighty Doom called Infernape back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Mamoswine!
Pointed stones dug into Mamoswine!
The foe's Keldeo used Secret Sword!
It's super effective! Mamoswine lost 75% of its health!Mamoswine fainted!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Rotom-Wash!
Pointed stones dug into Rotom-Wash!

(63%, PAR) vs (80%)

Perfect! Now I can Volt Switch yet again, I’m just praying for no para.

TGMD is bagging his death fodder to keep his key players around. I ran some calcs and discovered that Keldeo can tank a Volt-Switch. That's cool, I can try to abuse parahax or a mispredict to take out Rotom or force him to Volt Switch to one of his fighting resists. Getting Landorus out would ensure a safe sweep and Heracross is setup fodder for Keldeo. Looks like Secret Sword for the win.

Turn 24
The foe's Keldeo used Secret Sword!
Rotom-Wash lost 39% of its health!
Rotom-Wash used Volt Switch!
It's super effective! The foe's Keldeo lost 76% of its health!
Great Mighty Doom called Rotom-Wash back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Infernape!
Pointed stones dug into Infernape!

(38%) vs (4%)

Errr Melee Mewtwo makes a missplay here; he leaves Keldeo in on the Volt Switch, this means Infernape now sweeps his team, barring a Bullet Punch crit from Scizor. From what he said in battle, I’m pretty sure he forgot Infernape had Mach Punch, and that’s why he made this play, so that’s understandable, lol. Now I can bring in Infernape to finish off the game.

A comment from the spectators made me realize my horrible mistake, I forgot about Mach Punch. This stupid, stupid move just cost me the game. Nothing stops Infernape from sweeping now that Keldeo can't revenge kill it. Secret Sword for the loss. I'm just going to send out Skarmory since he has no use for me now.

Turn 25
Melee Mewtwo called Keldeo back!
Melee Mewtwo sent out Skarmory!
Infernape used Mach Punch!
The foe's Skarmory lost 14% of its health!

(38%) vs (82%)

He decides to preserve Keldeo, which will greatly improve his chances of winning if Scizor gets a Bullet Punch crit, or something stupid happens. Ok, it’s Flamethower time.

Down goes Skarm, in comes Scizor, and I win unless he crits Bullet Punch, right?

Bullet Punch crit maybe?

Turn 27
Great Mighty Doom called Infernape back!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Heracross!
Pointed stones dug into Heracross!
The foe's Scizor used Bullet Punch!
Heracross lost 48% of its health!

(40%) vs (100%)

WRONG, I COULD CHOKE INSTEAD, YEAH THAT’S COOL TOO… Yeah, I go to Heracross, rather than staying in and Flamethrowering, I have no idea what the fuck was going through my head; maybe I thought I had a Defense drop and I was in KO range at the time? Like, seriously, there’s no excuse for this shit, I had a 93.75% chance of winning the entire game, and I just threw it away… I’ve literally never choked this hard before, other than maybe when I first started playing Pokemon and I had no idea what I was doing anyway… I just go for Close Combat and hope for a crit.

Wait WUT?!? TGMD thought Bullet Punch would KO. I just got my setup opportunity, so Swords Dance for the win.

Turn 28
Heracross used Close Combat!
The foe's Scizor lost 71% of its health!
Heracross's Defense fell!
Heracross's Special Defense fell!
The foe's Scizor used Swords Dance!
The foe's Scizor's Attack sharply rose!
The foe's Scizor restored HP using its Leftovers!

(40%) vs (35%, +2 Atk)

Nope… now he gets up a Swords Dance… I’ll just bring in Landorus…

Bullet Punch sweep, gogogo.

Turn 29
The foe's Scizor used Bullet Punch!
Heracross lost 40% of its health!Heracross fainted!
The foe's Scizor restored HP using its Leftovers!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Landorus!
Pointed stones dug into Landorus!

(76%) vs (41%, +2 Atk)

Ok, here’s the other reason why bringing in Landorus on Turn 8 was a stupid play, with only one switch-in to Stealth Rock, Landorus survived +2 Bullet Punch, but with 2 switch-ins, it has only about a 50% chance of surviving, so like many turns in this game, this pretty much comes down to a coin flip..........................

Okay, here comes the coin flip. This will decide the game.

Turn 30
The foe's Scizor used Bullet Punch!
Landorus lost 76% of its health!Landorus fainted!
The foe's Scizor restored HP using its Leftovers!
Great Mighty Doom sent out Infernape!
Pointed stones dug into Infernape!

Rather than having the game won unless Scizor crits, I now have the game lost unless Infernape crits...

Well, this was a pretty close match. I made a real stupid move keeping Keldeo in but so did The Great Might Doom retreating Heracross. It kinda sucks to lose to a coin flip but that's part of the game, time to wrap things up.

(25%) vs (47%, +2 Atk)

Noooo... I lose the almost coin flip, and now my only chance is a Mach Punch crit, all hope is pretty much lost at this point…

BOOM! I get the Mach Punch crit, and down goes Scizor. Now, I am apologetic for the hax, many would say I didn’t deserve to win on hax after that huge choke, but in the end, we both made a major misplay in the last few turns (me switching out Infernape, Melee Mewtwo leaving Keldeo in on Rotom-W), and in the end, that roll on Landorus was about a 50% chance and we both had roughly the same amount of chances to get a crucial crit, so it really wasn’t too haxy. Even so, I apologize for the crit.

ROFL! This moment makes me laugh just thinking about it. What an amazing plot twist, now I don't have to feel bad about haxing TGMD out of a win.

Turn 32
Infernape used Mach Punch!
The foe's Keldeo lost 4% of its health!
The foe's Keldeo fainted!Great Mighty Doom won the battle!

Ok, gg Melee Mewtwo. It was a pretty awesome battle, even though I really didn’t play my best. The biggest problem I had with this game was definitely the sheer quantity of 50/50 predict situations, this happened due to the fact that because some mons were hard countered by others, it took out a lot of the skill in the game, and forced us to just rely on luck pretty much (this happened even more often in the next 2 games.) Either way, I can’t really complain considering I won on luck in the end, lol. Well, thanks a ton to Ganj4lf for doing all the formatting, I hope you all enjoyed this warstory, and thanks for reading :)

Mach Punch miss? Lol, great game The Great Might Doom, I loved every second of it, even if the threat of Infernape turned it into a massive prediction fest.
Props:- Ganj4lf for doing all the formatting for this warstory and running Counter That Pokemon
- Melee Mewtwo for contributing a ton to Counter That Pokemon and giving me some good battles
- Everyone else that contributed to this project
- Rotom-W for doing work
- Mach Punch for saving me from a critical situation ;)- Keldeo for taking care of Infernape
- Celebi for showing Rotom that being pink (I prefer red) is absolutely fabulous
- Skarmory for getting the Stealth Rocks up that gave me a chance at winning
- Infernape for being such an awesome counter pick and taking the game
- TGMD for being such an amazing player and making this battle as fun as it was
- Hax for actually being fair and making a game exciting for once
- ganj4lf for running this project, making the cool Celebi submission, giving us the format for the Warstory, and for being an all around cool guy

Slops:- Me for making a few shitty plays
- Most of the team for doing absolutely nothing, lol
- My grammar
- Jirachee for being my aborted baby
- My computer for being terribad in general- Myself for forgetting about Mach Punch
- Scizor for his poor coverage and being stupidly haxy
- Landorus for failing his master
- Hydreigon for leaving his job of bringing Skarmory in safely for Celebi to do

MVP

He completely centralized the match around himself, critted his way towards the final win, and literally KOed everything in Melee Mewtwo's team.​

Aaaand, that's it! The Great Mighty Doom manages to pull out a win from an extremely close match. I think the battle is really representative of the CtP project till Turn 24, when the events start to take strange and breathtaking twists bound to mistakes and critical hits. I am really glad that the battle wasn't as one-sided as the one that came after the previous Counter that Pokemon project; that means the users learn from their mistakes and in the end the project is useful to the community, somewhat.

Will Melee Mewtwo manage to pull off a comeback in the last matches of the BO3? Check the replays!

I'd like to thank another, final time all the participants to the CtP project, Melee Mewtwo / TGMD in particular, it was a pleasure working with you to get this warstory done; also thanks to NixHex for being very helpful and ready to substitute me when I needed it. Thank you to everyone that read all of this; if you're interested in the CtP, stay tuned! There might be a Mk IV in the future (not really soon, but still)!

sloppy start, sloppy finish, but doom made some solid midgame plays to set himself up for a victory (before he threw it away with both hands, then lucked it back) so good job there. nice job as well to melee mewtwo for putting up a good fight. team matchup definitely favored doom, since ape put so much pressure on mm, so it was interesting to see how he dealt with that as the game went on. despite the fact that both of these teams lose to generic rain offense, i think the counter that pokemon project has been a great success, and i'm looking forward to its next installment.

Wow! I'm quite impressed how effective Infernape was used in this battle. To me, this proves that Infernape's true downfall this Gen is Rain. If Drizzle was banned, I feel Infernape would actually be pretty decent and would actually deserve it's decent 30 usage rank. Anyways, great battle guys! Don't worry Doom, I probably would have chocked if I was in that position! I would have been shitting bricks at that point.

Moderator

I don't read battle logs but I was linked this and thoroughly enjoyed this, good play and I really liked how you guys really displayed your strategies in the comments, definitely a lot of thinking going on.

Hide(Move your mouse to the hide area to reveal the content)Show HideHide Hide

The crit at the end was completely novel and completely awesome, seems crits always happen when you don't want them to.

First off, it's nice to see the CTP project end with both sides pretty evenly matched. Especially since I mostly spectated and didn't actively participate as much. It's also interesting to see how Kyurem-B, the first pick, at pretty much no effect on the game.

That being said, I was a bit disappointed that this battle ended the way it did with 2 big misplays and a crit. I'm not a big fan of plot twists (though I do like 1-6 comebacks), so the end didn't bode well with me. But that's just my 2 cents.

Well, the misplays and haxed evened things out. I had pretty much already lost at the point that I made my initial misplay as I had nothing that could absorb a Volt Switch. The best I could do was throw Skarm. Then Doom would just have to bring Landorus in. Afterwards, I would be forced to send Keldeo back in and Surf as Doom threw Lando. Then he would just bring Rotom back in and I would either leave Keldeo in and lose or throw away my win condition by going to Scizor who then meet an Infernape ready to spam Close Combat for the win.

As for Kyurem-B I posted a bit about his position in the last handful of posts in the CTP thread itself. Basically, the problem was that Infernape radically changed the role of each member and Kyurem-B, as well as three others, became nothing more than death fodder. (The two teams weren't evenly matched or, at least, we could have done better.)

This is a very interesting play. Infernape is very underrated threat with drizzle everywhere, but you used it well! Good Job. These were very messy plays and lots of hax occurred which is funny and sucks for the other team. The last play was luck because Scizor failed epicely because of the Crit. Great job MeleeMewtwo and Great MightDoom.

I think you can run Fire Blast on Infernape other than Flamethrower because you aren't running Life Orb.

Two strong users huehuhue actually idk who dfuk mm is but doom is ballin.
Nape is cool as fuck but HERACROSS IS A SAVAGE despite its seeming lack of use in this particular game. Some sloppy plays here and there but overall well thought out and well playd. 8/10 GGgggggg